Patterson v. Masem, LR-C-80-372.
| Decision Date | 13 September 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. LR-C-80-372.,LR-C-80-372. |
| Citation | 594 F. Supp. 386 |
| Parties | Ruth Polk PATTERSON, Plaintiff, v. Paul MASEM, Superintendent of the Little Rock School District, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
John W. Walker, Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiff.
G. Ross Smith, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants.
Plaintiff filed a class action complaint against Paul Masem, Superintendent of Schools of the Little Rock School District, and members of the School Board on July 29, 1980. She alleged violations of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 1983 and Title VI and VII because she was not selected for the position of Supervisor of English and Social Studies in the District. She had previously held the position of Supervisor of Minority Studies, a position that was abolished. She was then made Supervisor of Human Relations, which plaintiff alleges to be a demotion. She also claims an infringement of her right of free speech because of her opposition to the production of the play You Can't Take It With You at Central High School in the spring of 1980. She also asked for a temporary injunction. After a two-day hearing before Judge Richard Arnold on August 8 and 9, 1980, Judge Arnold denied her request for a preliminary injunction but ordered that the person chosen for the supervisory position "hold that position temporarily only, pending the outcome of the trial on the merits, and the word `acting' is to be added as a prefix to his title" (Order of August 11, 1980). The case was subsequently assigned to Judge William R. Overton, who granted plaintiff's motion for an extension of time until December 15, 1980 to file a motion for class certification. The case was subsequently assigned to me and plaintiff filed another request for an extension of time to move for class certification, which was granted until April 3, 1981. On that date a motion for class certification was filed. Plaintiff amended her complaint on April 27, 1981 and alleged that she had received her right to sue letter from EEOC on March 10, 1981. The case was set for a non-jury trial on July 26, 1982 and was later rescheduled for March 21, 1983. On March 10, 1983 plaintiff moved that this case be consolidated with Clark v. Board of Education, No. LR-C-64-155, the Little Rock school consolidation case presently assigned to Judge Overton. On the same date I was asked to recuse because my former law firm had allegedly filed an amicus brief in the Clark case about fifteen years previously. I declined to recuse, and on March 16, 1983 Judge Overton and I jointly denied the motion to consolidate the Patterson and Clark cases, which rendered the motion to recuse moot (see my order of March 16, 1983). The Court's order of March 16, 1983 was appealed to the Court of Appeals by the plaintiff. The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal on June 7, 1983. On November 9, 1983 I declined to certify a class in this case.
The events in this case occurred more than four years ago. The delay has been largely occasioned by various motions filed by plaintiff (recusal of trial judge, motion to consolidate) and also a class certification motion which required a hearing. All three motions were denied, but there was a further delay because plaintiff tried unsuccessfully to take an interlocutory appeal to the Court of Appeals. The case was tried on the merits on September 6, 1984. The testimony taken before Judge Arnold in 1980 was considered as well as additional testimony and exhibits introduced on September 6, 1983 including depositions of School Board members Sherril, McGee and Herron.
Findings 1-5 were stipulated by the parties.
1. Plaintiff Ruth Polk Patterson is a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Arkansas. During the 1979-80 school term, she was employed by the Little Rock School District as Supervisor of Minority Studies.
2. Defendant Little Rock School District is a duly organized and existing school district in the State of Arkansas with power to contract and sue in the name of the District.
3. At all times material herein, Paul Masem was Superintendent of Schools of the Little Rock School District.
4. The position of Supervisor of English and Social Studies became available at the end of the 1979-80 school term, and plaintiff applied for the position. However, defendant School Board awarded the position of Supervisor of English and Social Studies to Mr. Marvin Zimmerman, a District employee.
5. Subsequently, plaintiff was placed in another administrative position, Supervisor of Human Relations, which became effective in the 1980-81 school term.
Findings 6-9 were proposed by Plaintiff and not disputed by defendants.
6. This litigation was filed on July 29, 1980 by plaintiff seeking relief personally and on behalf of black staff pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 2000e-5 and various outstanding court decrees including, specifically, Clark v. Board of Education of Little Rock, 328 F.Supp. 1205 (E.D.Ark. 1971). The gist of plaintiff's action was that she was denied a promotion to the position of Supervisor of English and Social Studies for the Little Rock school system on or about July 1, 1980 due to her race and/or sex. This case was initially brought as a class action on behalf of blacks and females. The Court has considered and rejected the class allegations herein. Plaintiff filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction on which a hearing was held by Judge Richard Arnold, then a U.S. District Judge, on August 8, 1980. Judge Arnold, now of the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, took testimony on August 8 and 9, 1980, which testimony has been transcribed and is before the Court for consideration.
7. Plaintiff Dr. Ruth Patterson is a black female who has a bachelor's degree with honors, a Master of Arts degree in English, and a doctorate degree from Emory University with numerous further hours from various universities throughout the country.
8. Robert Henry, Board President, felt that Dr. Patterson lacked sufficient managerial skills due to her relationship with the Central High incident. (This incident will be discussed, infra.)
9. Robert Henry wanted Dr. Patterson to spend a year in another position other than Supervisor of English and Social Studies so that he could judge whether or not she had the capability for making decisions.
10. The position to which plaintiff was appointed, Supervisor of Human Relations, was comparable in all respects to the eliminated position, Supervisor of Minority Studies, which plaintiff had previously held. Her appointment as Supervisor of Human Relations was in no sense a demotion.
11. In the spring of 1980, the Drama Department at Central High School produced a play for public performance entitled You Can't Take It With You. This play, written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1937. It had a long run on Broadway and was made into a successful motion picture, which won an Academy Award in 1938. A small group of teachers at the school objected to the play because in their opinion it characterized black people in an unfavorable way. Superintendent Paul Masem directed plaintiff to investigate the matter and report her findings to him. Masem's concern grew out of a meeting with Mrs. Cheryl Shull, the drama teacher who was putting on the play, Roosevelt Thompson, a black student who had a part in the play and who was also president of the student body, and Mr. Gene Hooks, the principal. Thompson reported that some students were being harassed by teachers because of their participation in the play. Roosevelt Thompson and Mrs. Shull regarded the criticism as unfounded.
12. Masem's instructions to Dr. Patterson were as follows:
I indicated that I thought the play was relatively far along, and it was pretty much what I just said; that I thought we ought to effect a compromise. And I asked her to go over to Central and see if she could assist Mr. Hooks in effecting a compromise, and indicated that if she did know the teachers, which she indicated to me that she did, that I thought it was very important that she alert them that that kind of thing had been reported to me, and that this harassment of students cease and desist. And I thought that having personal knowledge and a personal acquaintanceship with the teachers, that if there was anything that happened, she would be able to prevail to keep people cool. I recognized at this time, and I would say today, that emotions were very high. (TR Vol. III, pp. 51-52)
Plaintiff went to Central High School on or about March 10th and met with three of the black teachers who were protesting about the play. It is clear from the evidence that plaintiff completely agreed with their view and she ultimately became the spokesperson for the protesters, who became progressively more intense in their protests. The controversy reached the media and caused polarization in black students and faculty and much tension at Central High School.
13. There was a series of meetings concerning the play in which Dr. Patterson participated. The attitude of several of the black teachers, whose views were articulated and supported by Dr. Patterson, was that the dialogue must be modified to remove some objectionable language and that the roles in the play must be recast. In a meeting with the drama teacher, there was an agreement to change some of the language in the play (for instance, "colored" was eliminated from one of the lines), but the drama teacher refused to recast the roles, taking the position that it was too late for recasting. On April 3, 1980 Dr. Patterson then wrote the following memo to Mr. Masem recommending that the play be canceled:
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Patterson v. Masem
...of Supervisor of English and Social Studies. * * * [S]he was not selected for legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons." Patterson v. Masem, 594 F.Supp. 386, (E.D.Ark.1984). The court singled out among these reasons Board members' beliefs that Patterson was "abrasive, did not get along well w......
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